It is a common mistake for founders to try and go after a very broad market right from the beginning. This is a product “for everyone”, “we already cater to a huge market”, there are “actually three core use cases”, you know how it goes. The argument is that “we don’t want to limit our …

Overnight success and quick wins. Sprints and hacks. Shortcuts, yolo. We’re getting used to value hastiness as our ideal. We give things a try; then time runs out, nothing has worked and we ‘need’ to move on. Well, here it goes: High expectations cannot be met fast. Even when they do, they leave you with …

Things take time, facts are the last to take shape. Yet there are times when you believe in something for a fact. Evidence may not be in place, but you are perfectly sure what to do next. If it really feels right, then it probably is. This is what you call conviction. You can’t make …

I spent a couple of hours playing Trivial Pursuit with some friends today. After very many years since the last time I played, it felt, well, slow and dull, but also somehow weird. This is an attempt to elaborate on some reasons why. Trivial Pursuit is a board game in which progress is determined by …

What really matters is getting people together. A couple of days ago, we hosted the 50th Open Coffee event in Athens. It has been a wonderful ride since that June 2007 afternoon, full of positive energy and special gifts. I am taking this opportunity to take a step back and share some insights, which might …

There is a fundamental correlation between progress and your capacity to listen. By listening, I’m not referring to following what you are being told, quite the opposite. I’m referring to getting the most that you can —thoughts, experiences, knowledge, advice— from as many people as you have access to that might have something interesting to …

Getting from a couple of entrepreneurs to a team of 5 or 20 employees is one of the most difficult tasks startup founders are facing. I call this the transition from being a doer to becoming a manager and then, eventually, a leader. In this post, I will try to provide some reasons why, next …